Vanity Fare
Vanity Fare are a British pop band that were very popular in Europe and the USA at the end of the 1960s and achieved cult status, especially with the million-seller "Hitchin 'A Ride" .
Career
The group was founded in the summer of 1968 in Rochester , Kent . With their harmonious singing, the melodic songs and the play on words with which they changed William Makepeace Thackeray's novel "Vanity Fair" (German: "Fair of Vanities") to their band name (Fare can fare, passenger or something that brings joy, mean), they quickly became well known in the UK and European pop scenes.
They had their first hit in August 1968 with I Live For The Sun ( UK # 20). In the summer of 1969, "Early in the Morning" made it to number 8 in the British charts, and in December of the same year the band had an even greater success with Hitchin 'A Ride : the single was "only" number 16 in the UK , but also reached number 5 on the US charts in March 1970. In the USA, the song was in the charts for 23 weeks and triggered storms of enthusiasm, especially among the hippies of the west coast with the "hitch-hike dance".
A large number of other successful titles followed, which were particularly well known in England. In the USA there were extensive tours with the Beach Boys and many other pop greats such as The Mamas and the Papas .
After that, vanity fare became very quiet. For some years now, however, they have been playing their still popular hits, especially at oldie nights and parties. However, none of the original members is there anymore.
The song Hitchin 'A Ride was released in 1970 in a German version ( dreams are free ) by Michael Holm . In 1974 it was another small hit for the British pop band Paper Lace .
Original members
- Dick Allix, May 3, 1945, drums
- Trevor Brice, February 12, 1945, vocals
- Tony Goulden, November 21, 1944, guitar
- Tony Jarrett, September 4th 1944, guitar, electric bass
- Barry Landeman, October 25, 1947, keyboard
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
|||
| 1970 | Vanity Fare |
DE36 (2 weeks) DE |
More albums
- 1968: The Sun - The Wind - And Other Things
- 1969: Early In The Morning
- 1970: Coming Home
- 1974: Hitchin 'A Ride
- 1994: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow (Compilation)
- 2004: The Best of Vanity Fare
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1968 | I Live For The Sun The Sun - The Wind - And Other Things |
- | - | - |
UK20 (9 weeks) UK |
- | |
| (I Remember) Summer Morning, Early In The Morning |
- | - | - | - |
US98 (2 weeks) US |
||
| 1969 | Early In The Morning Early In The Morning |
DE26 (2 weeks) DE |
- |
CH6 (5 weeks) CH |
UK8 (12 weeks) UK |
US12 (13 weeks) US |
|
| Hitchin 'A Ride Early In The Morning |
- | - | - |
UK16 (13 weeks) UK |
US5 (22 weeks) US |
||
| 1972 | Rock and Roll Is Back |
- |
AT4 (12 weeks) AT |
- | - | - | |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
More singles
- 1969: Highway Of Dreams
- 1970: Come Tomorrow
- 1970: Carolina's Coming Home
- 1971: Where Did All The Good Times Go?
- 1971: Our Own Way of Living
- 1972: Better By Far
- 1972: The Big Parade
- 1972: I'm In Love With The World
- 1973: Take It Shake It Break My Heart
- 1974: Fast Running Out Of World
- 1986: Dreamer
- 1993: Rain